No Solo

Another tweet from Bob Goff that grabbed me: "God brings us together to be a symphony, not just soloists. Independently capable; collectively unbelievable."

Do we allow a concert of community into our lives?

• Do we go it alone?
• Do we embrace transparency?
• Do we seek out others' strengths?
• Do we find joy in our shortcomings?
• Do we keep our ears open?
• Do we make time for others?

And do we really ask ourselves, "What would Jesus do?" and mean it? And if we figure out the answer, do we act on it? And by we, I mean me.

On Earth

"Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

A tall order. On EARTH as it is in heaven.

I frequently take a couple of different approaches to this concept of "thy will be done on earth". Either a "My will be done or earth", or a hands-off, "Hey, thy will be done on earth, Lord".

Clearly doing my will on earth is off target. But all to often the case. I will try to own a lot of things here on earth. Be it professionally, personally or even things surrounding my activity with God. We can try to craft things. Well intentioned, but not exactly Thy will being done. Sometimes we are too smart for our own good. Too planning. Too driving.

Conversely, the hands-off approach—while altogether a pretty good thing—can often times turn into passivity. Now there is a good bit to consider here. I don't believe God wants us to simply be inactive and more or less simply just let His will be done. And I don't believe God wants us to force His issues. But I do believe sometimes we can be, more or less, along for the ride.

We sometimes consider this life our "Christian walk" (when I hear this I think of Monty Python's Ministry of Silly Walks skit). And we can concentrate too much on specific guidelines or ways of living that will therefore equivocate with being a Christian. But a walk is an active thing. There is movement. And WE are the one's doing the walking. Doing the work. Not a stroll—but making strides.

I wonder. Am I setting my own course? Simply strolling along? Or actively engaged in movement?

Everymoment. Everyday.

Grace Space

Have you ever been at a social gathering and met anyone for the first time, and felt that guarded space between you and the person? How much do I share/not share. Us guys typically fall back onto the "what do you do" or weather conversation. I suppose there are some social etiquettes which have us keep this buffer. I am not a very good buffer keeper. I tend to want to dig right in, and sometimes will showcase some of my more personal goings on that may breach the social acceptance—perhaps sharing something about how my boys clogged the toilet bowl and held of reporting to Dad for a plunge for two days (TWO DAYS—needless to say it was pretty bad. I mean how could the continue to go about there business without making mention of this—but I digress). So maybe I am a social space cadet.

But what about the space of grace? The space that says its okay to be open. Its okay to share. Come into my space and life. I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours. 

What about the "churched", the "believer", the "christian", the "saved". Is our space littered with closed ears, impatience, piety, over-education, judgment, political or personal opinion?

Or do we provide "grace space". A space that is less a buffer and more a a sponge—where story, issue, problem, strength, need, gift, can be held between two (or many). And the sponge can be absorbed in honesty—and be wrung out in encouragement, supply, forgiveness, support, strength, shelter. A space that speaks— "When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged...", Acts 11:23.

Oftentimes I don't think the Church behaves this way—even with our own. We keep our private things private. We don't share. I know folks who live in two worlds. All the while grace provides the space to erase the need to keep our world's separate.

Full disclosure is risky. You've got to have trust, hope, faith, vulnerability. You've got to receive grace. And give it.

Too much risk management going on—and not enough unmanaged grace.

Thinking and Knowing

I have a friend who's dad was once in a conversation with a friend, lets call her Glenda. And Glenda was going on and on about "Well, I think such and such" and "I think that fill in the blank" and "I think we need to blah, blah, blah." To which my friends dad interjected "Glenda, what do you KNOW." "Tell us what you KNOW."

There's nothing wrong with thinking. I think a lot. I also know some. I wish I knew more. It is our heart in our thinking, and the source of our knowledge, which impacts the effectiveness and truth of our thoughts and knowledge.

When thinking, where is your heart? When knowing, what is your source?

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

Something for all of us to think about...

Over Anal-ysis

I have had the pleasure (and I do truly mean that) of having my mother-in-law in for a visit for a bit. She is a sewer (read so-er, not sue-er). Every time she comes to visit, there is some sort of sewing project on the docket. Usually I will stash away a shirt in need of a button.

So,—or should I say sew—this evening she is hunkered deep into a project and makes the point that "Some day, when in heaven, do you think you'll say of me, "My don't you think she was anal about those drapes?"". To which I responded, "When we get to heaven, there probably is a lot we'll look back on and say that there really wasn't a need to be quite so anal."

When we are too exacting, do we lose out on mystery and excitement? Do we determine, or do we detriment our impact?

Overthought Leadership

There has been a growing trend on the topic and focus of "Thought Leadership". Many in the social, digital, business, and church communities are searching for, or becoming "Thought Leaders".

Someone recently shared (can't recall where I noted it from) that we need to "Be careful of making leadership more complicated than God intended. Listen to God, do what he says, in the way He wants it done.". Though life and leadership can be complicated, I believe sometimes there is a focus away from the simplicity of things like:

• Listening to one another
• Looking at history
• Meditating on relevant subject matter
• Utilizing each others gifts
• and Action

I am all for deep, progressive thinking, as well as analytical study. Nothing wrong with it. But sometimes—at least I know its true of me—we can overthink and potentially paralyze ourselves from action.  There can be overcaution, or the pursuit of perfection.

Additionally some give too much credence to those "Thought Leaders". We gotta be careful who we tag with that title. Some may not be as correctly leading as we think. The Ancient of Days can provide some pretty "leading thought". And there's a book about it.

Maybe I am just OVER "Thought Leadership"....

Public Awareness Campaign

Yesterday I was talking with a few guys about the subject of Reputation. Particularly looking at reputation as a goal or focus, and that of reputation as a result. The consensus was that when we look too closely at reputation as an end game we are not rightly focused. Our behavior determines our reputation.

So I got to thinking. What if we all made a top 10 list of what we believe people (friends, acquaintances, colleagues) think of us? What would it come out to be?

• Caring?
• Encouraging?
• Leading?
• Good Listening?
• Intuitive?
• Quiet?
• Etc.

And what if those people were required to make a list of what they truly thought of us?

• Giving?
• Nurturing?
• Fearless?
• Lying?
• Self-absorbed?
• Over indulgent?
• Etc.

What if we took a page out of the Scarlet Letter, and actually wore "our" list on the front of our shirts, and unbeknownst to us, the "people's" list was plastered across our backs? What chuckles would be heard from behind? Who would want to avoid us? Who would want to befriend us?

And what about God? What would His list look like? We are BEYOND fortunate that Jesus restored our relationship with God through His shed blood. Yet clearly the action of the cross does not erase the impact of our behavior choices, as Romans 6:2 states "How can we who died as far as sin is concerned go on living in it?". Therefore we need treat our behavior and choices seriously.

Our behavior speaks loudly. Perhaps more loudly that we even realize. Those of us who are parents have an incredible mirror towards our behavior in our children. But there are so many others affected by our behavioral choices. Moment by moment. Conversation by conversation. Email by email. Smile by smile.